Trump Pardons 77 Allies Tied to Effort to Overturn the 2020 Election

President Trump has pardoned 77 people who backed his effort to overturn the 2020 election, including his former attorney Rudy Giuliani and former chief of staff Mark Meadows, according to NBC News and CBS News.

The pardons were announced late Sunday by Ed Martin, the government’s pardon attorney, who posted the proclamation on social media, NBC News and PBS reported. The notice is dated Nov. 7, CBS reported.

Besides Mr. Giuliani and Mr. Meadows, the list includes attorneys Sidney Powell and John Eastman, according to NBC News and PBS. The proclamation grants “a full, complete, and unconditional pardon” to all U.S. citizens for conduct related to the creation, submission or support of any slate of presidential electors in connection with the 2020 election, and for efforts to expose what it calls voting fraud and vulnerabilities, NBC News and PBS reported. It states that the pardon does not extend to Mr. Trump himself, according to NBC, CBS and PBS.

A presidential pardon covers only federal crimes, CBS and PBS noted, so it does not reach the state cases brought against fake electors in states including Nevada, Georgia, Wisconsin, Arizona and Michigan, which CBS listed. CBS noted that a Michigan judge dismissed the charges there in September and that many other cases are delayed; PBS said those cases are stalled and that none of the named allies had been charged in federal cases over the 2020 election.

The White House defended the move. Press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the people on the list were “persecuted and put through hell by the Biden Administration,” NBC News and CBS News reported.

A spokesman for Mr. Giuliani, Ted Goodman, said Mr. Giuliani “never sought a pardon but is deeply grateful for President Trump’s decision,” CBS News reported.

Mr. Trump had not commented publicly on the pardons, PBS reported, so his own explanation, and any reaction from Congress, remained to be seen.